A Vampires Warmth
by 4getmeknot
Summary: Damon and Bonnie survived life and death together, this is my retelling of the events in season 6.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The CW owns TVD and its characters. I, regrettably, do not.

Chapter 1

She woke up.

The first thing she noticed was the sunlight pouring through the open curtains to the bay window. Throwing her arm over her eyes she groaned out loud. Mondays were always the hardest.

There was no time keeping in their little world, every day was the same. She would wake up to a room drenched in sunlight, groan and roll over, get up, shower, get dressed then head downstairs where he would have pancakes cooking and horrible 90's music blaring.

They would eat breakfast together (she would make the coffee) and do the dishes in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Next they would settle into whatever it was that made them happy here. She would read over her grimoires and he would go outside on the south lawn and bask in the sun and shade alternatively.

Around noon they would reconvene and she would make sandwiches, soup and salad. They would eat again in silence and over the dishes they would make remarks on the weather or the state of the grocery supplies or on whose turn it was for dinner. They never strayed from these few topics, they never met the other with a look in the eye.

Something's were better left buried.

After lunch they would each take to their private projects. She would do painting or some other art form, and he would go down to the local gym and exercise until his legs gave out, toning his body to an ungodly perfection.

When he came home, which he always did, dinner was well on its way. He would pass her, calling out as he hit the stairs, to let her know he was in the house, and go upstairs where he would shower, get dressed and come down.

When he returned a half hour later, he would set the table or take the chicken/roast out of the oven, give the salad a final toss and bring it to the table. On some nights they would pair one of his favorite wines with a dish he prepared and forgo the lights, opting to eat by candle light that she provided.

Those nights were better, they would hang her art out to show and he would nod at it, making appreciative comments and asking appropriate questions about how she came up with the concept. Sometimes, if the mood was right, he would give advice and share a tip from a famous artist that he had met. Those were nights she subconsciously cherished.

Dinner was usually met with a comfortable, sometimes friendly feel to it and made the nights easier for the both of them. He would wash the dishes while she cleaned off the counters, put food away and hummed to herself. He never joined in on her songs, but she could tell he was listening by the way he washed more quietly; careful to avoid sloshing too loud for fear of losing her voice.

When dinner was all settled and everything put away, he would start a fire and offer her a drink. She always refused, preferring to sip at her hot cocoa then to knock back his scotch. They would sit by the fire until they finished their drinks and the last of the coals died down, then she would pass her half emptied cocoa mug off into his outstretched hand, turn around and wave goodnight as she headed up the stairs.

She never heard him whispering softly after her, never saw him watch her with his eyes glued to her frame as she completed all twenty seven stairs, and walked down the hall. She never saw him come to the bottom of the stairs and turn his head to the left, listening as she made her way all the way down the hall and went into the room that was labeled by a painted bird over the second room on the left.

It had become their custom, to leave pretenses in place during the day, to keep up the charade that fell apart every night when he crept into the second room on the left. His room, the room he shared with his wife.

The ceremony had been small, the reception simple, they had bound themselves by heaven and earth, in whatever realm they found themselves and for time everlasting. It was a cosmic event to be sure, the eclipse giving the whole thing a very extraterrestrial feel.

That had been a year ago, and they had long since stopped talking about the past, or even the future. There was no one else in their little world, no interruptions to their well-meaning peace. They had fought long and hard for their peace, their routine; and they knew it so well that she didn't even look up when he came over to his side of their bed.

He had showered earlier and waited downstairs for the customary twenty minute shower she always took and the extra fifteen she needed to get ready for bed. When he had finally made his way upstairs, he was met by the familiar darkness that made the last few minutes of his consciousness actually worth slaving through the day for.

Creeping into the bathroom, he didn't need to see to find his toothbrush and other items of his nightly toilette. When he had finished cleaning up for the night, he took the towel and wiped down the area, cleaning up all the water droplets he left behind and making the bathroom sparkle. Or at least it would sparkle in the sunlight tomorrow morning when his wife woke up.

Leaving the bathroom he edged into the bedroom to find a familiar sight, his wife's prone form as she lay pretending to be asleep.

He knew from months of practice that she never really was a sleep and, climbing into bed with her he scooched over to her side and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. Some nights, she refused to be comforted, preferring the solace of her own mind over his strong shoulders.

Tonight wasn't one of those nights.

As soon as he touched her, Bonnie rolled over to place her head on his chest. He held her shoulders as she cried, mourning afresh the things she had lost, the friends she had left behind, the life she left unfinished.

As her sobs slowed Damon pulled back to look in her eyes, she nodded her head 'yes' she was finished crying for the night. He held her gaze until she placed her head back on his chest again, listening to the tremors in his undead heart.

Every night those tremors got stronger, became more pronounced, and she held back her own selfish hopes that it was because of her. Nevertheless, when he brought his strong hands up to hold her in place, and rested one on her head, she believed his nightly confession.

Damon watched his wife carefully, repositioning them again so that his right arm was under his head and his left hand rested on hers. Propping himself up on their bed like this, he could see her from and angle that glorified everything he loved about her face if she looked up at him.

Patiently, he waited as her breathing returned to even and slowed before he started stroking her hair. From the way their bodies were touching, he could feel it when she adjusted herself so that she could look up at him.

Resting her chin on her hand she gave him a clear view of those gorgeous green eyes. They were framed by swollen red veins and puffy brown skin, but this was the view he loved the most; he rarely got to look at her through the day, when they were living in their own separate miseries.

"Tell me"

Her voice was soft, and gentle, despite not being used very often.

He wasn't sure who had started it first, but this was the crowning memory of every day since they'd landed on this empty planet. It was the closing of every night since their wedding, and if he never got tired of one thing, it was their nightly confessional. Sometimes he gave it when she looked up at him like this, softly demanding that she be reminded of what they were committing to. Other times, she evoked it out of him on those rare occasions when she said it first. Still other times it was shouted, as he stared into her eyes, greedily demanding his prize from her mouth, it would be the only coherent words she uttered on those nights.

Later they would look back on these times and think of this place as their own private heaven. They would revisit some of their memories and wonder why they didn't do certain things sooner and why other things were ever done. Pining for these days when everything was quiet, they would wonder if they could ever return to this place of solace and regret the days they spent hating each other, squandering what precious little time they had left.

Still, on this side of those regrets, they live as best they know how, taking each moment one step at a time.

These thoughts were but a flash through his mind as he stared down at the woman who had taken his broken, bruised heart and carefully helped him put the pieces back together. This woman who needed him to rescue her from a different kind of danger, the danger of being forgotten and alone, who everyday reminded him that he would always be in her heart. Bonnie Bennett-Salvator who looked up at him with those green eyes that mirrored his own desires, hurts, and fears of being forgotten by those who loved them, who reminded him that she would never forget him, whispered her own confession with her eyes that needed him so, and he uttered his aloud matching her emotion for emotion.

"I love you".


	2. Chapter 2

**The CW owns The Vampire Diaries. I, regrettably, do not.**

Chapter 2

For Vee

She woke up.

Some mornings it was harder to do than others, and today was only moderately difficult. She stretched in her bed, their bed. The one that she shared with her husband.

She knew that something was off before she hit it. Something in her wide awake brain was telling her that the world they had made for themselves was about to come to a grinding halt.

Bonnie should have known by the way the sunlight poured into their window. It was too bright, it was too warm.

She should have known because of the fact that she woke up with an immediate return to consciousness; rather than the slow, groggy refocusing that she was usually met with.

Lying on her back, twisted up in the sheets that entangled her, Bonnie stretched. She arched her back high off the bed, reaching her hands above her head and pointing her toes as far as she could get them. Holding the pose, she relished the feeling of the start of a new day, the promise it held.

Bringing her hands out to circle her frame as she dragged her relaxing fists on the sheets around her, Bonnie stopped when she felt her right fist knock into something cool and smooth.

It was her husband.

Except for the morning after their wedding, Bonnie had never woken up with Damon by her side.

She should've been more alarmed at the sight of her male companion beside her, but she wasn't. Instead she felt an odd sense of calm.

It had been four years sense they landed on this empty planet, and after the first two years of bitterness and strife, they had somehow begun to take comfort in the presence of the other half of their small population.

She had always known he was handsome, it was clearly evident to as much of the female population he had met over the past one hundred plus years. But it wasn't until they had passed the two year mark of their time in the pre Spice Girls Era world, when the reality of their circumstances really hit her.

Standing in the kitchen of the Salvatore Boarding House, Bonnie felt herself unravel. Never again would she see the sweet, smiling faces of her best friends, never again would she hold her lover Jeremy in her arms.

The boy, the people she loved so much, the people she sacrificed herself for, she would never…

Breaking to her knees, she found herself crying. Even in all this time, she had held out hope for so long and she wouldn't let herself cry. But now the barrier was down and the emotions that lay dammed up behind her walls of hope came crashing down.

From far away she could hear herself wailing, doubled over in pain; there was no remedy for this kind of heartbreak. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt she might die here, alone accept for the vampire she came with. She realized now that she would age, get old, and die here while he would stay the same, and she hated him for it. Even though he fed exclusively from the blood bank supply at the local hospital, even though he never let her see him do it, even though he kept himself so chocked full of blood that she never saw his need to consume blood from the source, she hated him.

Hated him for loving one best friend and using the other. Hated him for all the chances that he had to be forgiven, for all the people in his life that loved him through all his awful deeds.

She hated him for being here with her.

For using her moment of weakness to take hold of her hand, for taking so long to find his body, for not going through her while she held open the gates between life and death. Hated him for being the reason for every bad thing that's ever happened to her.

In all this time Damon Salvatore had never apologized for anything, not even once. Instead he bickered with her, argued and teased, called her names and never said 'please'.

He was awful.

_And he never even noticed her._

That was something she had thought she buried in the seven years since she'd known him, but presently it swam up to the surface to be counted amongst the rest of his sins.

He had chosen Caroline to feed from, then Elena to replace Kathrine as the love of his life. It wasn't that she wanted his affection, but he never even looked at her. She would at least like to be counted amongst the possibilities for his interest, at least like to be categorized as desirable.

Not even Stefan wanted her.

Only Jeremy, and a few witches here and there had ever commented on her appearance, and now they were gone and the one person who had treated her as though she were invisible was stuck with her for the rest of her life.

Yes, she could honestly point to him and say, he is the reason for all things wrong in the world.

The pain in her lungs from her ragged breaths was making her cough. Rocking forward on her knees she expelled the air from her chest so forcefully that she began to retch.

Leaning over her hands that were covered in whatever vomit her stomach could provide, Bonnie knelt; a crying, dry heaving, shaking, sputtering mess. She knew she was dying again, and the thought brought her peace.

The thought of what might beyond the world her grandmother had promised she would find peace in as she slipped slowly into unconsciousness.

She almost chuckled at the thought that she had indeed found some kind of peace in this world where she could finally confront all the things she was bitter about. She was almost glad she hadn't gotten her magic back. It was magic that started all this mess. Sure, she felt whole with her magic, and without it she could tell that there was more than a little missing, but it was magic that prolonged Damon Salvatore's wretched life, and for that alone she believed she could live or rather die, without it.

Just as the world around her was fading away, she felt two strong arms wrap about her middle.

It was Damon. The man who had never chosen her, who had no choice but to save her if he didn't want to be left utterly alone in this world, wrapped his arms around her and drew her to his chest.

He had heard her crying and gone out into the yard to give the young woman some much needed privacy.

He would admit it, she was interesting, and maybe he did tease her a little much, but hey, it was worth it. Better than having the two of them moping around all day.

But something in the way she sobbed brought him vamp speeding back to the Boarding house. He had lived almost two hundred years on earth, seen things, felt things, experienced things that normal people weren't supposed to, weren't allowed to feel. And when he heard the broken hearted wailing that was coming from Miss Bonnie Bennett, he knew what it meant.

She had given up.

He should've seen it coming, should have known that with all her griping, Bonnie was still very human, and mortals had a way of creeping up on you in the worst possible way.

He couldn't lose her. Because if they ever made it back, Elena would have his head. Their little gang, he could see the way they would look at him, Caroline would be hurt, eyes tearing up, hand flying to cover her little mouth as it formed an "o" shape. Stefan would fold his arms, only to drop them again and press his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking at his shoes as he stifled his sadness. Alaric, Little Gilbert, everyone would hate him if he let her slip away.

And naturally, in typical Damon fashion, he would shrug his shoulders and smirk, lifting his hands up in his characteristic "whatever" motion. He would put on a show, tell them all he was "sorry the little witch offed herself when he wasn't looking. He might feign remorse, swaggering as he cradled a bottle to his chest, and calling out loudly that it "wasn't his fault".

Everyone would call him heartless, say he was a monster, but no one would ever see the little hairband tied around his wrist, the one that he stole from Bonnie months ago. No one would ever see the little green head band that he kept close to him, they wouldn't know that they reminded him of her, of the way she laughed and the way she smelled.

So he held her, and hid didn't let go.

He didn't let go, because somewhere in his heart of hearts, he knew, that this was love and wouldn't ever let go.

That was the first time he kissed her.

After that, they didn't need words anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

**The CW owns The Vampire Diaries. I, regrettably, do not.**

Chapter 3

For Angie

She woke up.

This was the third week in a row where they had woken up side by side. It wasn't normal, but it wasn't too bad. She rose earlier than he did, and would lay on her side gazing at the lids that covered her husband's blue, blue eyes.

Once, she tried to count his lashes, but he caught her staring and kissed her.

They did a lot of that nowadays, and the spoke to each other often too.

They weren't bickering to the same degree as they were when they hated each other, now they did it with love. But to any outsider, it wouldn't look it.

He enjoyed seeing her, waking up like this beside him. Sometimes their mornings were so good he couldn't move from the bed for hours; those days were his favorites. But above all, he loved seeing her smile, even if he did have to pick ridiculous arguments with her just to have her pretend to get worked up, turning her head to the side with a twinkle in her eye.

Their world had found a new bliss, they didn't know it before, but that happiness had an expiration date, and it was about to come due.

Downstairs in the library, Bonnie concentrated as she poured over her grimoire and the ones she and Damon had collected on the trips they had taken in the early days. Together they had hunted down that of her grandmother, her mother, her cousin Lucy, his old flame Bre, one from a New Orleans witch that Stephen had learned about (actually they gathered several from the Big Easy –apparently the Original Vampires kept close company with scores of witches), some from the Martin family and a couple other from various witches they knew of either from research or Damon's memory.

It was a formidable collection, one that she was actually quite proud of.

Every now and again she would take a couple (or all of them) out and try her hand at simple spells, even if she couldn't perform magic, she still liked to memorize things. Especially since there were all types of herbal remedies, recipes and other concoctions that she now used to perfume their home, season their food and store away for medical use.

Needless to say, the Salvatore Boarding House now sported a multifaceted herbal, vegetable and pleasure garden.

Sitting in the library she reflected on their time together, reminiscing on their comfortable evening in. A small smile graced her lips, but still, she could feel it in her soul and she knew.

This was the beginning of the end.

When Damon came in from the gym that night he made to call out to her over his shoulder as he always did, but something caught his eye.

She stood there staring at something in her hand. It was a small medallion, circular in shape and ocean blue in color.

"Whatcha looking at?" he teased.

She must've been deep in thought because she jumped when she heard his voice, and her hand closed over the little object.

More serious this time, he looked at his wife's face, carefully gauging the situation at hand.

For the past few weeks, things between them had been better than it ever had before. They had both been working on separate projects, she had her painting and he had his body, but they also had projects that, while not joint endeavors, were still used to benefit the other in some way.

Well, her paintings did adorn many of the walls in the Boarding House as well as those on the Salvatore property and few houses in the rest of the neighborhood, and they both enjoyed the feeling they got when Bonnie approved of his arms and abs, but these projects were different.

Every now and then, Damon would take a drive and come across an old car that he loved, he would bring it home and work on it in his spare time, and try to restore it to its former glory. There was one he was working on now that would be a gift to Bonnie. It was a lovely little thing, classy and old fashioned like her. When he saw it, he was reminded of the time when she banished herself from the boarding house about two years ago.

It was after their first kiss and Bonnie had assured him that even if they did had feelings for each other now, that she wouldn't be living with a man she wasn't married to. Her grandmother had raised her to be a lady after all and she wouldn't be shacking up any time soon.

He chuckled inwardly at the recollection, but there was something unsettling in the air.

"Bonnie, what is that you're holding?"

"Uh, it's…" she trailed off. Recollecting herself she tried again. "It's just, I've been feeling off lately,"

"Wait you're not pregnant are you?" he tried at something light.

Frowning she adjusted her hair with a shake of her head. He loved it when she did that, it made her seem so sassy.

"I think we're not alone here." She said.

"So you're seeing someone else?" he quipped "Come on Bonnie, it's been four years, we both know there's no one else here. This place a shadow of our old lives, but that's just it, only a shadow." Aggravated now at her ridiculous antics, he finished his statement and turned towards the stairs.

"So you haven't noticed anything different around here? No changes in the air, in the colors? Nothing?" she asked exasperated.

"No Bonnie, we are utterly and exquisitely alone. No one else, just me and you, forever."

That last comment stung her and she recoiled visibly like she'd been slapped.

"Your own personal Hades" she whispered.

When he heard her voice soften to a whisper, he realized the indications of what he'd said. He didn't mean to walk away, but something small and dark willed him to, it had been a long four years alone with this woman, and he just needed some space.

The past few weeks had been blissful, emotional and altogether lacking a certain… something, something he hadn't craved in a long time. Somewhere on the inside he knew that their time together was winding down.

He went upstairs without another word and turned on the shower, but when he closed his eyes the image that had been forming for the past few days swam into his mind.

Something about the conviction in Bonnie's eyes told him that they would never again have the tranquility they had so patiently wrought here in this Quasi World. He knew it, she knew it. There was only a matter of time before something dramatic happened to turn them back into the people they once were.

There was a niggling little doubt in his mind that made him feel like cursing Bonnie for saying aloud the thing they had both been silently noticing for the past few weeks. Saying it out loud made it seem more real. There was more anger in him for her than he had felt in years.

Closing his eyes he exhaled slowly and indulged himself in thought certain brunette with big brown eyes.

The next morning he woke up alone and, to be honest, a little disappointed. Bonnie wasn't beside him, and there wasn't in evidence that she had even come to bed. In the back of his mind he was a little worried, but presently all he could do was be relieved. Her comment yesterday about them not being alone brought back feelings of irritation that he thought he had long since given up.

He couldn't help that the thought of another person there, if that was even possible, and the possibility made him anxious.

Another person, if it was a male, could upset their dynamic. There would be someone else there who might look at Bonnie, and even though his present feelings were shaky at best, she was still his wife.

If that other person was female, it could possibly be even worse, Bonnie might turn out to be the jealous type, and God knows women had a way of not being able to control themselves around him.

However, if that person was a supernatural, regardless of their classification, Bonnie would want to know _all_ about them. Who they were, how did they get here and when, etc. etc.

Her eagerness might dredge up old feelings of hope, and Damon couldn't get his up a second time.

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, keep 'em coming!**

**For the record, this story is Bamon endgame, but since I'm retelling the events of this season, I need the characters to be somewhat in line for the story arc to continue. **

**Much Much loveee to you all!**

**4GMK**


	4. Chapter 4

**The CW owns The Vampire Diaries. I, regrettably, do not.**

Chapter 4

For Jesus.

There had been a lot of things between them to argue about over the years, never this.

As she sat in the conservatory of the house she had long since called her home, she descended into the spirialing abyss of her own thoughts. Turning the little smooth stone over in her hands she watched as it glittered in the sun. It was so blue.

Like his eyes.

She imagined him, standing in front of the ocean like he had last year when they went on their honeymoon trip. It had been a long trip of driving along the east coast, visiting the beaches up north and digging for clams, hunting for lobsters. There was something about the way his eyes held her, like she was peace for him.

Laughing mirthlessly, Bonnie tossed the stone in her hands, only to let it clatter to the ground aimlessly.

She knew this stone was the key.

She had lived in this house for the better part of four years, lived in this town her whole life. There was no one who lived in Mystic Falls, Virginia, who had ever owned a stone with the letters NMO stamped on the back.

When she first saw it, she had a funny feeling. Like she had seen the funny scriggles on the back of the man-made stone before. For weeks the thing had tortured her. She was about to give up, until tossing the rock into the air a memory flashed into her mind.

When she was younger, her father had taken a business trip to the other side of the country. Even then her nature bonded her to the earth and she begged her father to bring her back a beautiful rock. He had had a tour of some of the best parts of the city and when he came back, he presented her with a stone, smooth and white, like her husband's skin.

Imprinted on the back of the funny rock were the same three letters… NMO.

"National Museum of Oregon"

No one else she had ever known to be from this town had ever had anything with those three letters. She knew because she had bragged all week at school and, small town as it was, there wasn't anyone who could ever match her father's gift.

She didn't need to go back to her father's house to confirm it, there was no need. The proof was right there in her hands.

She was so overwhelmed with this information, with the possibilities and the implications, what it could mean for her and her husband if they were actually not alone in this world. Perhaps they could even return to present day, non-repeating Mystic Falls, see their old friends again.

Bonnie was mulling all this over when her husbands voice startled her out of her reverie.

He was obviously not happy about what this kind of development would mean for them. Damon only saw things from the negative side of life. Possibly because he was already dead. He thought about the fact that even if there was another person here, in this time trap with them, they might just be stuck with them. Or maybe they had just landed here, or they were survivors of some sort of apocalypse or… anything was possible.

He had been angry then, and she was sorry for bringing up her suspicions without any proof first. He had gone up to take a shower and she was going to surprise him by getting in there with him and _apologizing_ when she heard him say something he hadn't said in years.

"_Elena_"

She could feel her stomach drop to her toes, her innards spool out on the cold tile floor as the steam from the shower choked her lungs and suddenly, she was back.

It was as if four years of changing emotions, two years of peace and comfort and one year of love and abandonment to that love had dissolved into the mist that now covered the mirrors and walls of the bathroom.

He should have heard her stumbling backwards over her feet, should have smelled the change in the air, but he didn't, or rather he couldn't because he wouldn't let her go. _Ever._

It would always be Elena.

And now with the possibility of returning to the present so strong, their love was gone. No. It had never existed. They were just a charade, just a pretense, something to keep them going in the after life.

_"__NO, it couldn't… it isn't possible…"_

Bonnie's thoughts ran in a jumbled mess as she gathered her clothing and ran from the house. The conservatory on the back of the property was her haven. He wouldn't look for her there.

_No, he wouldn't look for me._

Something within her broke as she crossed the threshold to her private sanctum. At first, she cried, then she screamed, then she ranted. Breaking things like pots and beakers, earthenware and porcelain that she had found and gathered and brought here, she smashed and smashed everything she could get her hands on until all of them lay in shards upon the ground. And it was there she sat, atop the junk heap like Job from the Bible.

Idly she wondered if God would rescue her too in the end.

She supposed it was worth a shot.

But she had been up all night, sitting there past the broken cries, past the regret, past the shame at ever loving such a man. The emotions swirled within her as she sat looking at the stone on the floor.

It wasn't even a stone, just a plastic replica. One she wanted to burn.

Suddenly, everything in her body ached.

It was like something was coming alive inside of her, some surge of something _extra_ within her. Something pushing her to try her powers once again.

And so she did.

_Jesus, help me._

Concentrating, she picked up the little plastic stone and focused. All her energy, all her pain, all her senses, everything. Her head hurt, and her eyes blurred with tears. Her muscles roared with pain as she ground her teeth and curled her toes. It was like pushing against a brick wall.

In her mind she yelled, a wordless, continuous stream of vowel sounds, she wasn't going to let the doubt in. That's how it happened last time. She was so willing to lay down and die, so willing to let the world decide for her how she was gonna be. But not now.

No more, no more, NO MORE!

And suddenly the wall budged.

She saw the quiver in the air before she saw the flames themselves.

Like a mini heatwave that began and ended at the center of her palm. And then the flames.

In a fraction of a second the flames covered her hand and engulfed the tiny petulant rock.

But rather than let the flames consume her and the plastic stone, she saw the flames separate from her palm and wrap neatly around the plastic.

Even though the flames had only a moment earlier, covered her hand, they now licked quietly at only the blue target of her misery.

It was power, it was control. It was something she had never known so precisely.

As she sat watching the ocean blue demon darken and bubble, she gently removed her hand from it. Shriveling, crackling, charring, the blue stone sat calmly in the air above the spot she was just holding it at.

She checked her hand and saw that there was no indication that she had even been near fire. Her palm was cool to the touch.

_A fire that doesn't burn_

Somewhere before she had heard of something, but it wasn't magic anymore.

Somehow her unspoken feelings, her prayers, had been… expressed? No… manifested was more like it.

As the flames around the now black ashes died and wisped away, she looked around her at the mess she had made.

_Dear Lord_

Perhaps she could do … whatever it was she had done again?

It was worth a try.

She concentrated again, imagining in her mind the way her conservatory had looked when she had first come in last night.

Then she had a better idea.

Closing her eyes she imagined what the room would look like had she completed her projects and her plants were flourishing.

When she finally did open her eyes, she sank to her knees.

Beneath her 90's denim clad knees was soft fresh soil. Everywhere around her plants bloomed and blossomed, flourished.

It was her own paradise, and everything she had imagined was there and so much more. To her left she could hear cicadas singing, over to her right she could hear koi fish changing directions as they swam their endless patterns in the dug in pond.

This prayer- thing she was doing was something else!

Even her hearing had picked up.

Speaking of hearing…

Somewhere in the distance she could hear the sounds of bottles crashing.

_That's weird, why would Damon be smashing bottles in the grocery store?_

Next there was a cry of pain and then… another man's voice?

Snapping her eyes shut Bonnie concentrated hard on what Damon was saying. In her mind's eye she could see a picnic umbrella's wooden pole stabbing his hand.

She needed to be there, but how?

She opened her eyes, about to search for a way out of her conservatory and over to the main house to find one of Damon's cars. _But what about the keys?_ Right. She might just be better off run… ning?

She didn't need to run. She didn't need to run because she was standing right in the middle of the grocery store, watching the man she heard raise a makeshift wooden stake as though he were going to stab it into Damon's—

_No._

Candles all over the store burst into flame as she aimed a murderous glare at the man.

_Kai is it?_

How did she know that? Never mind.

She looked down at Damon and suddenly their minds collided.

He was sorry for what he'd said, even sorrier for what he'd done in the shower that he hoped she'd never know about. He had drank through his entire store of liquor at the house and came here to mope and clean out the liquor isle here. Burbon being his favorite drink he had idled here, thinking of how the color reminded him of her soft sweet skin.

She forgave him in an instant, with a smile she looked into his eyes and forgave him. She could almost feel herself the weight that lifted off of his shoulders as a small smile tugged at the edge of his mouth.

"Run" she said to him, he was gone in a flash.

"Bonnie," the man stammered "hi."

She squinted her eyes at him, she didn't like the way he said her name, as if they were already familiar. She took a moment to look into him, and saw that he had showed up here a few weeks ago, stumbled across them actually, and had been watching them (yes _watching_ them) for some time.

The floor around him was alive with flames.

_How dare he!?_

Dropping his weapon the man pleaded for forgiveness. He was about to go into some sort of speech, but Damon beat him to it, literally, knocking him out with a single strike of the shovel.

After that he looked up at her trying to tell her he was sorry again. He went to hug her but she flipped her nose up at him and gave a little "hmmph" noise.

Smirking a bit, he knew exactly what that noise meant.

_I told you so._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I love you all. Sorry for the wait ;)**

**-4GMK**

**The CW owns The Vampire Diaries. I, regrettably, do not. They'd better thank the Good Lord for that.**

A Vampires Warmth

Chapter 5:

For my Beloved Mother.

He woke up.

There was chattering going on, well actually more like bickering. Blinking slowly, Kai adjusted himself in his… seat? Yeah, seat. He was tied down to a dining room chair. Clearly they thought the living room chairs were _above_ him. They were cushy after all.

Ah the Salvatore Boarding House, home to the current Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore, who were presently arguing about whether or not to kill him, how quaint.

"You know," he said by way of gathering their attention "you bicker a _lot_, but I guess that's just how you show your love."

"Listen up you little buttcrack" said Damon, poking him with the fire poker, "you only speak when spoken to, got it?"

"Got it"

Kai turned his gaze from the miffed vampire to his lovely wife, and biting his lip, gave her a slow once over. She lifted her chin at him and scowled.

"Spicy, I like it."

"Hey Major Creep, keep your eyes on me."

"Somehow I don't think of you that way."

Damon was about ready to end their little interrogation before it was even started when he felt her hand on his arm, immediately his anger fled from him. He still hadn't fully apologized to her about before, so he was careful to follow her lead.

"Good boy" Kai said, whistling appreciatively at his 'master'.

"Why have you been watching us?"

Damon stared at his wife. Watching them? For how long? How did she know? He was brimming over with unasked questions, but what was even more disconcerting was the fact that Kai only smiled.

"I see, right to business then?" He kept his eyes on Bonnie but she only stared back at him.

"Well for starters, you two are quite the frisky pair," he said, eyes flashing and teeth bared in a predatory grin.

Damon thought he his eyes would pop out of his head. He had been watching _watching _them?

Bonnie only continued to watch him silently, while her husband's eyes ping ponged back and forth between them. He was missing something, but the hard line Bonnies lips were pressed into told him she needed to keep her cards up her sleeve. Kai continued to leer at her, like he was caught up in some sick fantasy.

Suddenly, she leaned forward and brought her hand down, slapping him clear across his face. It was a move that neither of the men in the room expected, and both recoiled with a certain shock.

Looking directly into Kai's face Bonnie spoke calmly and quietly even as her eyes darkened to a shade of green Damon had never before witnessed in his wife's eyes.

"You will tell me exactly what you came here for or I will end your existence on this plane and the next."

Stunned into silence both Kai and Damon watched, mouths agape and eye's bulging. Kai was the first to recover, as Bonnie leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest looking like she was ready to deliver on her threat.

"I think I may have a way to get us out of this time trap."

He had surprised himself with his honesty. He had intended to drag this out some more, maybe lead some kind of psycho chase on but he hadn't expected things to be like this with her. She was supposed to be the nice one.

Bonnie was tired. She was not going to be playing these games with him. She had spent far too long going through the process of keeping hope alive, watching it die, and dealing with its aftermath to mess around with this guy. She had a gut feeling from the moment she saw that fake rock marked with the letters NMO that their time here was almost up.

She supposed now, in hindsight, that the Holy Spirit had been giving her some sort of premonition. She should have known better than to ignore those signs back then, but things between her and Damon had been going so well.

Come to think of it, she had been having thoughts of Jeremy in the past few weeks, almost exactly the amount of time she now knew Damon had been thinking of Elena. These two events coincided with the sighting of the blue rock, and now she knew the reason. But she had to make sure of it.

"So how do we fit into this?"

There was something about the way she held herself now that made Damon remember why he fell in love with her, rather, he grew to love her but… you get the idea. She was always so strong, so calm in the face of danger. Any lesser man would have been feeling inferior right about now, and would have taken over the interrogation to save his ego. But watching her rip this guy a new frame made him flush with male pride. Bonnie was his soulmate, vampire or not.

Kai mumbled so mystic mumbo jumbo about some family heirloom he needed to find, and how he needed a descendent of the Bennett bloodline (who were some sort of priesthood apparently, not witches like she was led to believe) to operate it. They could use the eclipse to time their return, because they needed the cosmic event to smooth the transition back into the regular flow of time that this plane somehow managed to operate outside of.

She agreed that they would extend his lease on life another day in order to determine if his words were true.

"Now sleep," she said turning her hand toward him "until I tell you to wake up".

Suddenly Kai slumped in his seat and began snoring as the bindings fell from his wrists.

"He'll be more comfortable like that" she said in response to the look her husband was giving her.

"What?"

"_What_? What do you mean _what?_ What just happened?"

"I put him to sleep, he can't hear us or see us or move from that spot until I say so. It's actually a type of paralysis"

"Okay, 1. Very cool. But 2, how did you know he was watching us? How did you know he had something he could use to help us get out of here?"

"I can see now, Damon. It happened when I first got this Power. I think God is helping us"

"Wait, what? God? Babe, c'mon, I'm a vampire."

"Yes, and a very mortal one if you ask any tree around here." She smirked at him.

He looked at her for a moment. She looked so confident, like she knew every word she was saying was true, and then he remembered Kai's words. That Bonnie and her family were some sort of sacred priesthood.

"Okay, I'll bite. If you are some sort of sacred priest…ess, then… what now?"

"We don't trust Kai, he may be telling the truth, but his motives are impure. It's like he's dark around the edges, like he's hiding something. I want to know more. Something's not right about him."

"Well maybe it's because he's some sort of voyeuristic psychopath who goes around skipping dimensions."

"Whatever he is, we'll need to be on our guard from now on Damon."

"Right on! Team Damon-Bonnie here I come!"

"Ha-ha, very funny. But I'm serious Damon, he's the manipulative kind. He'll…make you see things that aren't real. We'll need to stick together, on everything Damon. I need you on my side this time."

The smile on his lips died as she finished her words.

"Baby," he said, honesty written all over his handsome features "I love you. I'm sorry for being an idiot about" he swallowed hard and decided to bite the bullet and tell the truth "thinking about Elena. I shouldn't have. And I am behind you a hundred and seventy plus years percent"

This comment made her lips curve into a small smile. Taking that as a nod to move forward, he stepped closer to her.

"And, I will always be on your side. Consider me your knight in shining vampire armor, because I will eternally be fighting for you"

She closed the distance between them now, wrapping her arms around her dopey, but honest husband.

"Seriously, that was corny" she said, smiling up into his eyes.

"Well, yeah, but I meant it" he dipped his head to kiss her as he wrapped his arms around her.

It had been a long day.


	6. Chapter 6

**The CW owns The Vampire Diaries. I, regrettably, do not. If I did, there would be a whole lot of people out of a job.**

A Vampires Warmth

Chapter 6

He woke up before she did, he wanted to see her, sleeping peacefully in his arms. Scanning the curve of her hips, he traced the line of her frame delicately, almost as if he were discovering her for the first time.

They had spent a long time here together in this Anti-World, and he loved her. That's what he kept telling himself. I mean, surely, he did love her, he just wondered what made him.

The _Other_ other side wasn't exactly full of other choices, not that he needed one of course, but still. It wasn't like he and Bonnie had much to choose from.

Damon loved Bonnie, even before all this mess, he loved her, but he never would have chosen her if it wasn't for all this time together. Right?

_Wrong_.

Thoughts like these had been creeping up on him lately, and it angered him strongly. Not just because they kept popping into his head every time he thought about the possibility of getting out of this prison world (Kai's words not his) but because he knew they were foolish.

Bonnie and Damon had fought long and hard for the peace they had, they had come around to each other even after all the hatred that had grown between them. Just because they had spent a long time in a world of two people didn't mean that they were _bound_ to love each other. They had hated each other at first, if there wasn't any love there they would have continued to hate each other until they died (if indeed they could die on this plane of existence). After she had broken down and he held her in his arms, he understood what it meant to love someone.

It wasn't the throw caution to the wind and run headlong into danger feeling he had for Elena, not in the least bit. In fact, most times it wasn't even a feeling. Mostly he wanted Bonnie to be happy, and if that meant helping her plant a garden, fixing up an old car for her, cooking for her or even spending 8 hours a day in the gym for her, he would do it.

He wanted her to feel special in whatever capacity he could, because he had made his choice long ago, Bonnie was the One for him.

To say the Bonnie had broken down his walls was an understatement.

Bonnie had laid waste to his walls, built a siege ramp and entered his city, took all his officials hostage and put a ransom on his heart. Bonnie had destroyed him completely, and he quite enjoyed the prospects of Stockholm syndrome.

Turning over in his arms his wife looked up at him, silently considering the features of his face. She kissed him then, deeply so, and he reveled in their early morning sport. He didn't know it then, but she was saying goodbye.

In all the time they had spent together, he should have known his wife better. He should've been able to see what she was planning to do. He should have known that she would never let Kai out, not even over her dead body.

Gritting his teeth, he threw the bottle he was drinking from into the fire, watching it explode and staring as the flames leaped higher. He wanted to kill himself. He was ready to die now.

She had sent tricked him. Looking softly into his eyes as he held her hands tenderly, she had said that he was going to get through this. He thought she was just being cute with him, but when Kai came, everything changed.

It was like she knew, like she knew he was coming and she wouldn't live to see him again.

"I love you Damon," she looked at him with tears in her eyes and she said the phrase in Latin that he knew was somehow meant to dissolve the marriage vow they had made. He didn't understand it then, but now he did.

Bonnie was always sacrificing herself for someone, he had promised himself that it would never be him, but it was.

He should have known she would do something like that when he looked into her eyes that morning. He was so ready to come back here, to test out what they had on the world, ready to see her smiling with her friends, ready to see what they all had become in the four years since they had left, but he would never get that chance.

It hadn't been four years in Mystic Falls, only four months.

The time he had spent with his beloved wife had been magical, to say the least. Somehow time in that prison had slowed and every month became a year.

He had hoped to show Bonnie off to them, gloat over the fact that she had chosen him, that she (the most righteous of them all) had seen him as worthy. He had hoped his brother Stephan would be proud, that he and Caroline had somehow made it official, and that Elena had moved on, maybe finished her degree and was about to settle down with some nice human boy who would let himself be turned for her.

Instead, he came right back to where he started.

Only Stephen knew that he had been with Bonnie, but even to him he wouldn't tell every detail. He kept it in his heart that they had been married, kept his mouth shut when the pain threatened to kill him, he raged in silence when they all moved on like she was just some…

He couldn't explain his distaste for everyone and everything in Mystic Falls, in this _way_ overpopulated world. He couldn't explain it because it made his heart sick, and the only remedy was gone.

If Stephen knew that anything was wrong with his brother, he chopped it up for experience ad shrugged it off. After all, he was gone for a long time, he deserved to have a little PTSD. He didn't get involved, didn't dig deeper, and didn't lend a hand. It was something he would come to regret.

So Damon did what Damon did best. He buried it. He shrugged his shoulders, knocked back a bottle like it was human blood and never let his pain surface. He went back to Elena, played the game like he was supposed to, and stole Bonnie's stuff from her dorm room whenever he could get in.

Every now and then, when he was alone, he would let the emotions wash over him. He would put away the bottle, turn off all the lights and sit in his chair, letting the visions come.

He was lonely. He was so lonely without her.

Every day was a passing blur to him, haunted as he was by the past he could share with no one. He kept her hair tie on his wrist and her headband on his pillow while he slept. In the mornings, he would take the headband in his hands and gently, almost reverently place it back in its tiny ziplock bag, that way it could keep her smell longer.

He would put it deep into the dresser drawer of the guest room he kept at Ric's place, and take out the bottle of perfume he had had special ordered. Spraying it once on the stretch of skin that kept his thumb connected to his hand he would wait a few moments before recapping the precious bottle and going about his morning business.

It was little things like this he did that were inconspicuous and helped him to mourn her privately. He couldn't tell anyone that he special ordered 90 boxes of a brand of women's perfume that was sold in 1994 and sprayed it every morning on his left hand because he often held his alcohol bottles in his left hand, so now whenever he lifted the bottle to his lips he would smell her perfume. He couldn't tell anyone that he woke up in the morning feeling so lost because he went to bed without hearing her voice or touching her skin or holding her in his arms even one time. He couldn't reveal any of that because her friends thought that they _owned_ Bonnie.

"She hated you"

That's what everyone would tell him. They didn't know the truth.

He thought of this as he went down the stairs, jogging a little to get the blood pumping. He chuckled to himself, reminiscing on just how wrong they were.

While he was gone Stephan had been working on restoring his car and had finally finished it, giving it to Damon as a welcome back present. Sweet baby brother that he was, Stephen had been so emotional when he handed him the keys to his baby. Damon stroked the paint lovingly, thinking of how many times he had driven Bonnie around in this car. He was about to go deeper into despair, piling on as he was the many memories he had of her and this car, but his phone buzzed in his back pocket.

Glancing at the screen he resisted the urge to crank his arm back and hurl his phone into the side of Ric's building. Instead he patiently swiped the little green button that stood for picking up the call, and put the phone to his ear.

"Hey Damon, I have a few hours to kill before my next class, do you want to maybe hang out for a bit?"

He sighed, surprisingly, picking up his old habit of being at her beck and call was a tough routine to get back into.

"Sure Elena, I'll meet you in twenty." He could practically hear the smile in her voice, _this girl is used to getting exactly what she wants, whenever she wants. _He thought bitterly. He didn't like being her slave, but at the moment, his thoughts were too dark and at the very least he needed to just _be _something, even if it was a worst punishment then death.

His brother had scolded him for spending too much time indoors (that's why God invented daylight rings) and suggested he go out some more, he hated him for that suggestion.

"Great, see you then" he heard her perky voice lift as she said a quick goodbye.

He had been hounding her to spend more time with him, a part of his dual (or should I say _dueling_) nature.

Here in this time period, it was if nothing was wrong, life went on as normal. All their friends continued with life as if there were no limits, as if they were finished grieving Bonnie as soon as they saw Damon.

Only little Caroline showed any remorse, she had spent the entire four months looking for a way to bring down the anti-magic barrier that the Travelers had erected with their chants, and looking for a way to bring the two of them back. This way 'We can all go back home together' she would pipe merrily when asked about completing her task. When she saw Damon, her eyes were filled with hope, from her especially he found it hard to keep the truth.

"Where's Bonnie?" she asked, eyes darting around and voice rising. He could feel the bile rising in his throat, ready and waiting to spew the story he and his brother had come up with.

"She wasn't there," he said. He had perfected his mask of indifference long ago, it hadn't been used in a while, but now was as good a time as any to dust it off.

"She wasn't there?" Caroline repeated, a little dumbfounded.

"No, she found peace." He watched as her sweet, sad little face crumpled and she fought to hold back the tears.

When he had told Elena she seemed sad at first, but as usual she found a way to get past things that didn't directly involve her.

"Were you with her?" She asked, blue eyes shining with unshod tears.

He wasn't prepared for this part. Everyone else had swallowed his myths like a vampire gulping blood, but seeing her staring at him like this, like her eyes could somehow pierce through his soul and discover the truth, threatened to bring the whole façade crashing down.

"No," he said easily. He was _this close_ to flipping the switch on her right now.

He waited, for the falter in her voice, there wasn't much left now. If she called him out on his tale he would convict himself where he stood, bring the stake, ready the noose.

But she didn't she stared at him for a final moment, then taking her eyes from him she gulped once, twice and then a third time before she stood up straight and shook her head a couple of times.

"Okay then, okay." She glanced at him once more and made to walk away, before she did she turned back around and held him with her eyes.

The power of her gaze was strong, and if she didn't believe him before, she made herself believe him now. He saw it there on her face, she loved Bonnie. Not as much as he ever could, but she did, truly, and more than anyone else in their little group. It made him respect her now, the love she had for his wife. He wouldn't think of her now, standing in that cave with an arrow through her body, ready to sacrifice herself for him.

He wouldn't think of how she was always so ready to throw her life away, he wouldn't think of how cold the floor of the cave must have been as her blood seeped out of her wounds and warmed the earth. He wouldn't think of his Bonnie laying on the cave floor with her eyes open and staring but seeing nothing. He should've been giving her his blood, he should've…

All of his thoughts passed through his mind unseen as Caroline stood there thanking him for some unknown reason. But he was thankful for her.

Elena on the other hand was busy making things about her, as she always did.

Clearing his head as he went driving down the streets he had driven so many times with Bonnie (they had often stopped at the college to bring home some books or grimoire's) he thought of her smile, and the pressure in his lungs caused him to slam on the breaks unexpectedly.

He had nearly rammed the car in front of him.

As he pulled into the college parking lot, smiling at the coeds, he sincerely felt the loss of his better half. Bonnie was everything that was good in him, and without her he was only loneliness, misery and greed. He smiled at the young women (children really he only ever knew one other _woman_ besides Bonnie –and that was his mother) but his smile didn't reach his eyes.

He was here out of routine, because he needed the things that were familiar to him in order to remind himself to hang on. He took a glance at his sealed glove compartment box. There was an ornately carved stake in that box, and if it ever got to be too much without her, he would look at it and remember the suicide pact they had made together.

They didn't need it then, but he might surely need it now, living in this world without her, this was Hades, and it was all his.


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own The Vampire Diaries, I do not own the characters who inspire me. What a shame.**

Chapter 7

Bonnie was not alone.

In the month since she had sent Damon back to the present (or was it future?) a year had progressed in the world she now shared with Kai and… someone a little bit smaller.

Well, scratch that. Kai was no vampire, so he didn't know what was going on when he stabbed her for the second time and stole off to the present day (again future?).

She had spent the remainder of her newfound power on sending Miss Cuddles back, so she had to do this all alone now. She had dissolved their marriage when she sent him back, she had expected to die here, but now she had a reason to live.

A reason with big hazel eyes and soft curly black hair and skin like decaf coffee with four creams and four sugars. Her name was Mina and she was Damon's daughter.

Mina was everything Bonnie could have ever hoped for in a daughter, everything about her was precious. Her laugh, her smile and the sparkle in her eyes, they were what made her days worth living. As one year turned to two and then three she celebrated her daughters 3rd birthday.

"Happy Birthday to Yoooooooouuu" she sang loudly taking pictures and clapping as little Mina blew out her candles.

Bonnie had long since learned the craft of baking and so she had made her daughter a beautiful princess Ariel cake. The Little Mermaid was her favorite.

Mina was Bonnie's whole life, but even she could see that something was missing. Her little girl showed no early signs of vampirism and so she felt a little bit safer because of that. But still, there was no one else in their little world, they were playmates and schoolmates, and each others constant companion.

Mina would need social skills, she would need friends, the bears and dolls they played with everyday could only be enough for so long, soon she would need boys, soon she would need her father.

She watched Mina, playing happily with the gifts she had given her. Some were handmade while others were from a store from the next city over.

"Mina, smile!" she said holding up the old camcorder she and Damon had used. She had found some more tapes to use and since had become quite the paparazzo, recording hundreds of hours of footage of their most precious moments. She saved them all in a box under her bed, the one she had shared with her husband.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had held the love of her life in her arms and cried, now she cried alone.

But that was only late at night, when she was sure her daughter would be asleep.

Shaking her head she pushed those thoughts aside for now. Today was the day.

Putting the camera down she called to her daughter softly.

"Mina, honey, come here I want to show you someone."

If the tone of her mothers voice had tipped her off, Mina didn't let it show. She put down her toys and softly padded over to where her mother sat in the big sofa by the fire.

Patting the seat beside her Bonnie motioned for her daughter to come up and sit next to her. She watched her as her little curls danced with the effort. She watched her because that's what Bonnie always did. She wondered if she would ever see any manifestations of the Power she had been given that day, so many years ago.

Mina was quite the faith filled child. Bonnie had taken her to church and taught her how to pray, but she wondered if that was enough. The Bible stories she had been reading her every night was her favorite time of day so she was encouraged enough by her response, but still… she wondered.

"What is it Momma?" she asked, and Bonnies heart was sure to melt at her expression, all doe eyes and mischief, half her, half her father.

Speaking of her father.

Damon had left a couple videos on the tape they had made together, and she had picked through his best ones to find the best way to introduce him to her daughter. Correction, _their _daughter.

"I want you to meet your daddy."

"My daddy? But Momma, I don't have a daddy."

"Mm-hmm honey, yes you do."

"I do?"

"Mm-hmm, and I'm going to show him to you"

"Okay"

Bonnie held up the camera and pressed the play button.

What filtered up on the screen was and edited version of what he had actually said that day. In the video Damon walked around the mansion talking and jesting with Bonnie. At one point in the video he wrapped his arms around Bonnie and gave her a kiss.

The video stopped there, because Damon's camera habits were voyeuristic at best and she was sure he'd never meant for a daughter he didn't know he could have to see it.

She looked down at little Mina's pretty hazel eyes, they were wide and round now, peering with interest at the man who stood with her mother.

"Would you like to see it again?" she asked gently.

Mina nodded her head mutely, and Bonnie rewound the tape to the last place and started it again.

Later on that night Bonnie felt something within her quiver. Seeing that video again with her daughter had awakened something within her. She missed her husband, there was no doubt about that, but she also missed the company of other people. She had spent seven years in this place, and she figured it was about time she got back, she would find a new way, somehow, she had to. Not just for her, but for Mina as well.

And so she began to tell her about the real world, one where the other houses have all kinds of people in them, where there are other little boys and girls for her to play all kinds of games with. Where there were new movies and full shopping malls, and dancing and music and laughter. The stories she told her daughter at night filled them both with a longing to see that world, they didn't know that their adventures were only just beginning.

In present day Mystic Falls, Damon had broken up with Elena, she was still sore about it, but he didn't care. Eventually she would have to learn to get over herself.

They had tried to bring Bonnie back a few months ago, after she sent Miss Cuddles over. Since then Damon had only had a one track mind, but he refused to speak on it, growing more and more desperate to see his wife as time flew by.

On their first attempt, Elena had went with him, and had gotten so wrapped up in herself that they were pulled back before Damon could even send a page to Kai's beeper. When they were brought back, the found out that Kai had broken out and that Bonnie was all alone, he told them that as he burned the ascendant.

After some ridiculous shenanigans he was back living in the boarding house and working on their second attempt at retrieving Bonnie. Kai's spell proved useless as always. He decided to absorb a conscience but not better skills, and so they arrived back in 1994 but there was no sign of Bonnie anywhere. Rather than wait for her to come home, they had to leave because Kai wasn't very strong and they needed to keep more powerful company, seriously.

Sitting on his bed that night after Elena left in a huff over Jeremy and his _Art School_ he was finally able to have a moment to himself to think rather than be bombarded by her looks and her fake sympathy, which mostly included some pouting, hair flipping, feelings and attempts at sex. None of which Damon was up to tonight, or any other night for that matter.

He had told her it was over but she just wouldn't quit.

Standing to take off his jeans, he emptied his pockets for the night. As he did, a quarter fell out of his hand and rolled under his bed. He was going to leave it but he thought, _what the hey_.

Leaning down on all fours and stretching his hand under the bed he felt a box. He knew he didn't regularly keep any boxes under his bed, so naturally that made him curious.

Pulling the box up on to the bed with him Damon took his time and examined its contents. There were plenty of old looking tapes and a camcorder he recognized as the one he used with Bonnie.

_It feels like a lifetime ago_ he thought to himself.

Perusing the box he found most of the tapes marked to depict something about some girl named Mina. They must have been from some old stuff a boarder had brought with them back in the day. The handwriting looked suspiciously familiar so he popped in the next one he could find. It was marked _Mina's 3__rd__ Birthday_.

The old tape started playing.

"Happy birthday to yooooooooouuuu!" a disembodied voice was singing.

There was an adorable little Frappuccino looking girl standing at the dining room table that was decorated for a large party, even though no one else was there.

_Poor kid_ he thought.

The little girl giggled and the tape cut to another scene. This time of the little girl (whom he suspected was Mina) opening presents.

"EEEEKKKK" She screamed, as she unwrapped it, apparently it was exactly what she wanted. "Oh my gosh Mommy I love it"

"Aaaannnnndd?" came the response.

The little girl blushed and she looked away coyly. Something about the mischief in her pretty hazel eyes was too familiar.

"Mina Diana Bennett-Salvatore, don't you have anything else to say?"

If his heart could beat it would have stopped now. His ears itched, his hands were sweating, and his breath was shortening.

"Thank you, Mommy." The girl said.

"Mm-hmm, now come and give Mommy a kiss for the camera."

He could hear the papers crumpling as the girl made her way over to where her mother sat. The woman was turning the camera now so he couldn't see her yet. But his eyes were glued to the screen.

"I love you Mommy," the girl said kissing the woman's cheek, kissing _her _cheek.

"I love you too Mina" the woman said, and the camera cut to black.

His thoughts were blinking like a broken digital clock.

She was alive.

Bonnie was alive.

And he had a daughter?

**A/N**

**Hope you all liked. Smile, Jesus loves you.**

**4GMK**


	8. Chapter 8

**The CW owns the Vampire Diaries, I don't even care all that much anymore…**

**A/N:**

**On the prison world and real world time: 1 month in regular world time = 1 year in prison world. So Bonnie and Mina have been gone for three months in Damon's world, but only he knows that. Bonnie still thinks it's been seven years because she hasn't gotten back yet.**

**On Kai: Kai escaped back to the real world just like he did in the show, he left shortly after Damon was sent back and is off being a baddy somewhere.**

**On Mina's birth: Yes, Bonnie was alone, Yes it was a regular birth. She went to the hospital, she read all the books on midwifery and hospital procedures (?). She had nine months to prepare. Yes, the mess was cleaned by the prison world;s renewal system. Yes Mina has grown up in the prison world, Yes Bonnie has aged, and Yes she has taught Mina enough about the real world that she in her tiny little mind knows this place is special.**

**Will Mina show any of her parents' characteristics? OoOoOoO.**

Mina was clairvoyant. Her parents didn't know it at the time, but the reason she had wanted to see her daddy was because she had seen him in her dreams. She doesn't tell her mother about the dreams, she knows everything from Mommy, and if the one time she asked her about dreams Bonnie told her that they weren't real, well then, Mina believed her.

Who else?

But Mina's dreams _were _visions. Premonitions of things to come. They got stronger every year. She had been seeing a mysterious man in her dreams, and as foggy and foretelling as they were, she never thought she would actually see him in the daytime. Let alone find out that the mysterious nice man who in her dreams lived in the same house as she and her mommy would actually be her daddy.

Mina didn't really know what love was, but she knew she loved the man with the white skin and the blue eyes. She knew she loved him because he loved her mommy and blue was her favorite color.

They had spent a long time in the car today, longer than she and mommy had ever been in the car. Mina didn't mind however, it was fun listening to her favorite music on the tapes she and mommy had made, singing loudly, even if she didn't know the words.

They stopped at a lot of fun places too, spent times in hotels and big swimming pools and really nice rooms. She was even able to get a few new dresses and some yummy snacks too. Yesterday she and mommy had went to a foggy place where they walked around outside a lot. Mommy had found a cave and they went inside. When she asked why they were there Mommy said it was because they were going to find a special rock that they could use to go to the world where Daddy lived. Mina was quiet after that.

She could feel the funny rock from where she sat on the ground carving pretty pictures of her new family together. Mommy never asked her where to find it so she just sat and drew pictures on the walls. She had seen pictures like the ones she was drawing now. Last year she and Mommy had gone around looking at pictures drawn on the inside of caves. Mommy said that a long time ago, there were people who lived in these caves, and they couldn't put what they wanted down in words, so they used pictures. Mina liked those pictures, even better than the ones in the museums. Bonnie had told her that those people in the caves made the paintings with their families, just like she and Mommy did. It made her feel warm inside to know that they had families and love like she and Mommy.

After Bonnie prayed over the rock for a few minutes, Mina felt the Power flowing out of the rock and into her. She knew things were going to be different from then on. Soon they would see the man from her dreams.

Back in present day Mystic Falls, Damon blindly wrapped the fabric of his tie into the appropriate knot for this century. As he did so, his mind drifted to a different time. Back then he hadn't been able to eulogize his mother, he hadn't been able to do what he needed to do for his family, and now he had a family of his own.

He had spent that night on his bed watching the videos. He was alone in the house and didn't need to fear being over heard. There were so many videos. Many of them featuring his beloved little girl, Mina.

It was as if Bonnie had _sent_ them here to him. She had catalogued every important detail of her young life from first smile to first steps to first words. Watching them, he felt as if he too could share in the joy of raising his daughter.

Damon stared at the little brown angel. He had somehow forgotten how to breathe when he first saw her in person. She was so beautiful. The science of it all was completely beyond him, but the fact that he could have had a part in making something so pure and so beautiful and so… _human_ nearly brought him to his knees.

It made his heart ache to see the woman he'd left behind so alive and full of live. For three years in her world she had been on her own in raising their daughter. For three years he had been unable to hold her at night, when she would cry in his arms; for three years he hadn't hear her nightly confession and for three years he hadn't been able to give his.

That all changed one night when he heard her voice broken and shaking on the tape he was watching. It was a Thursday night, and they had all just come back from ringing Kai to take the power out of Sherriff Forbes' super cancer. He had killed a man that night, put him out of his misery really. But the way Caroline looked at him, it was if he had taken away her only hope. The looks Elena had tossed him were even worse. It was like she blamed him afresh for all the bad things that had happened in their life, but really she was just bitter.

Elena of all people, saying that _he_ had been the one to ruin their lives. _Pfft._ It was _her_ fault. She couldn't make up her mind which Salvatore Brother she wanted. It was her fault that Bonnie had died to save Jeremy for her and so had to become the Anchor just to be able to be seen again. It was her fault that she let herself be possessed by Kathrine and couldn't be there when her friend was overwhelmed by the Travelers who ultimately killed her when they brought the Other Side crashing down around her.

He blamed her for their deaths, it was her shoulders that the blame for all the bad things in their lives should be placed squarely on. But if it wasn't for her and her being _acutely_ unaware of the pain of people who were not her, he wouldn't have been allowed to live four years with the woman who had turned his soul inside out.

Damon had made it abundantly clear that he wasn't going back to her, and if every day he saw her and she gave him one of several different looks that even when nasty meant that she still wanted him to come back to her, then so be it. Every day he would tell her where she could get off.

Bonnie had always been a religious person. Every Sunday she would get up, quietly, and change into her Sunday best. She would leave without saying goodbye and he would feign sleep, listening to her hum whatever worship song she would be singing that day.

She was incredibly dedicated to that God of hers. And even when it made Damon sick to his stomach to see her reading the Bible every day, to watch her pray every night and see her put her faith in some, Big Man in the Sky instead of trusting _him_, it made him mad.

But still, she never pushed him to believe, never asked him to come with her to Church, never tried to share her faith with him. Only when he asked would she reply with some answer that he couldn't press her into arguing with him over. She didn't want to argue about her faith, and so she didn't. He wanted her to, to be sure, he did. But she never budged in her opinions, never swayed in her faith. And that made him curious.

What did she see in God that she didn't in him? Wasn't he good enough that she didn't need her imaginary friend to help her along?

Still, she never complained when he stole secretly to Church after her, when he would creep up to the doors and listen just outside of them to hear her singing with such joy. She hadn't always had faith like that, when they first came she was just as lost as he was, but somehow she found her Way. He could feel it in her, that there had slowly, steadily been a hole in her that was closing. He didn't want it to be because of Him, but it was. She was healing, she was getting stronger, and in some ways, he believed that He was preparing her.

That's where he found himself tonight. The old Church in Mystic Falls. He could still her singing, still see her joy. Using his predator stealth he crept into the Church, and he didn't burn alive.

Score one for the Big Man.

He sat there for some time, quietly, imagining all the time they would spend here whenever Bonnie and Mina came home to him. He already knew that Bonnie would never ask him to come here with her, but there would be no questions about Mina's attendance. He was sure she would take Mina with her and enroll her in Sunday School and Bible Study, make her a good little Church girl.

It took some minutes to realize what had happened to him. He was smiling. He was hoping. For a future with his wife, with his daughter, with his family. He would find a way to get Stefan (lol not Stephen) to come, if anyone could use a dose of hope it was Stefan's forehead.

There was a Bible in the pew next to him. God must be having a laugh on him, sticking him with a woman who loved Him more than she loved him, giving him hope and a daughter, and then telling him to wait.

On the inside Damon was burning, but not with rage, with despair. How long? How long would he have to wait? How many more birthday's, how many more big moments, how many more nights would he be without the woman he loved in his arms?

It hurt, his heart hurt and he didn't know what to do. He didn't realize his fingers had closed around the Bible, or that the moment it touched him, the pain didn't go away, but it became _that much_ more bearable.

Sitting on the edge of the bed that night, he felt even more lost. Sherriff Forbes had died and he was at a complete loss. He could feel his heart breaking as he shifted his weight from the bed to the floor, and knelt beside it.

"Oh God, help me, I know You're there."

He didn't know why he chose _this_ moment to believe, but it just happened like that. He was about to get up to leave when he heard Bonnie's voice in his head. She usually ended her prayers with a very specific ending, and he realized now that if he was going to do this, he was going to have to go all the way.

He thought back to the Man on the Cross, who looked on the outside the way he felt on the inside. Maybe they could come to some sort of understanding.

He sighed, then held his breath and blurted out quickly,

"_InJesusnameIprayamen"_

He didn't feel any different, but if Bonnie's faith had taught him anything, it was that these things take time. So he left off at that and didn't worry about it. A big step on his part, because like it or not Damon was a Class A Worrier.

She was reading a coloring book at the time when he first saw her. Her little head was covered in soft wavy brown curls and she looked so intently on her work that he didn't want to disturb her. He had crept into the kitchen after sending Stefan off to find Caroline, but he hadn't heard back from him yet.

"Call me back, brother" he said before hanging up.

He felt like he had grown roots, for he could not move from that spot.

It couldn't be true, this wasn't real, he had to be dreaming.

"Mina…" he breathed.

She looked up at him and he felt the white hot iron of hope sear his innards. She was so beautiful, which meant that she looked as little like him as possible. Only the slope of her nose and the curve of her chin spoke of his mischievous genes, but the rest was all Bonnie.

Time had taught him caution, so when he heard her voice, he was unwilling to believe it was really her. It wasn't until she had come crashing into his arms that he believed it. Tears were pouring from both of their eyes, and he finally felt like he was home.

**What did you think? **

**4GMK**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**A/N: **

**On the Bennett-Salvatore Family: YES, all three are back home. "she came crashing into his arms…"**

_This is real_.

There weren't really any other thoughts in his head at the moment. For the first time in a long time he felt his inner hunger rise. Here was his wife, _his wife_, Bonnie Bennett-Salvatore in his arms. If he had needed to breathe he would have passed out a long time ago from how long he had been holding his breath, trying to separate this phantom from all the others.

But none of the other visions he had had of Bonnie had ever smelled so good, had never inspired his bloodlust, nor had he ever felt their tears.

"Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie"

It was all he could say. Her name over and over in his head, the chorus that had rang in his heart now spilled from his lips. Never before had he felt his praises rip so soundly through him.

She could feel him under her fingertips, this man, this monster to whom she had bid farewell so many years ago. This man whom she had adored, whom she feared had forgotten her, was now clutching her desperately as though his life depended on her every word.

Somehow the Latin words that she had used to dissolve their marriage when she first sent him back had lost their power. They were supposed to remove their feelings for one another, make it as though they never met. But they failed, nothing would ever part them.

Standing in the kitchen of the present day version of the mansion they had called home for all her life, Mina watched her as her parents greeted one another.

This was the man from her dreams, the man from the tape her mother had shown her. He looked so happy as he stood holding onto her mother for dear life, and she clung to him as well, legs bound around his waist, arms a vice around his neck.

Soon they were both laughing, and the air was filled with a third voice for the first time in her life.

Finally he let her down, not that he was tired from holding her, but because if he held her any longer, their little girl would become a big sister, and he wasn't ready for that just yet.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Bonnies face softened.

"You made it." He breathed, ready to kiss her senseless.

"Yeah, but… I'm not alone"

He looked in the direction her head had turned and saw their little girl staring back at the two of them.

"Mina, come here honey."

Damon watched as the small child made her way around the bench. She was utterly precious in her small sized jacket, stirrup leggings and saddle shoes. The 90's had not been a kind decade to fashion if he remembered correctly.

Coming to a halt before her mother and father, little Mina stood on chubby little legs fit for modeling adorable little clothing.

"Yes Mommy?" she said, innocent charm spilling from her shy glances up at them.

"Mommy wants you to meet someone, okay?" Bonnie asked bending down to eye level.

Mina nodded, keeping her eyes trained on her mother's face.

"Do you remember the man from the video I showed you?"

Again Mina nodded, watching as Bonnie motioned for Damon to kneel down a bit.

Although he knew what was coming, Damon still couldn't register what was happening, the moment was so surreal.

Damon knelt so that he was eye level with the little angel. She was beautiful from afar but up close… she was mesmerizing.

"Hello, what's your name?" he asked sincerely.

Her eyes went wide for a moment, as though she couldn't quite place what was happening to her.

"Mina"

"Hello Mina" he said with tears in his eyes.

The next morning, he pretended to be asleep as a small, toffee colored hand slipped quietly into the palm of his larger, porcelain one. Bonnie had left the two of them alone in the house while she went out to meet Elena and Caroline at the dorms.

He could already see his reflection in her eyes, she was so beautiful, this little human being the two of them had made. Damon could tell that there was something special about her, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on it.

"Daddy," her little voice was like water to his thirsty soul. How something so beautiful had anything to do with him was beyond his comprehension. He only hoped his side of the family wouldn't ruin her.

Speaking of his family, he needed to tell Stefan… eventually.

The little angel was turning on the charm, he could tell, but he fell prey to her every whim just like he did with her mother. They played all sorts of games, ate food and danced to music. He was careful to introduce her to too much of this decade. He and Bonnie had decided last night to let her find her place slowly. They didn't want to overwhelm her, even though they both knew how resilient children were.

That, combined with the fact that her parents were two of the strongest people (supernatural or otherwise) that had ever walked the planet (or _planets_ if you count the prison world) she was bound to be fine.

_Ding Dong_

There was a knock at the door. Damon went to answer it…

It was Kai.

"_Oh boy"_

Back on campus, Bonnie walked into the dorm room she shared with the two girls she had called best friends back when she was alive the first time. Seven years (or seven months in this world) without them had made their time together seem like sweet memories from a bygone era. Still, they all had their parts to play, and rather than just walk in and buck against the machine, 7 years of patience had taught her to hold her peace.

Downing champagne because she hadn't had anything this strong since… well, she downed it, and then quickly held out her glass for more. In the back of her mind she heard a voice tick up in her ear saying that she should drink slowly, but time had taught her altogether too well, that things in this Mystic Falls can turn sour and/or dramatic too soon to do anything but have the best and more of it while things are calm.

Fifteen minutes later, she was glad she followed her instincts rather than that awful suggestion she had received from God knows where. Caroline really had switched of her humanity.

"It's weird, it's like she Caroline… but not"

The once sweet blonde was now wreaking havoc over Elena's ex (remind her to keep Caroline away from Damon… speaking of, how were those two doing?) and wiping memories left and right.

But of course, even humanity-less Caroline, still knew how to throw a party. She was having a rave tonight, as part of her one year of humanity-less life. Grrreeeaaattttt.

Just what Bonnie needed, coming back from years of isolation and instead of spending it wrapped up in her husband's arms, she was here, babysitting a twenty-something immortal with morality issues. Just peachy.

Checking a text she saw that Damon had shot her a message saying that he was going to take Mina to the lake house to see the fish. She replied that that was cool and she would see them both in a few.

Now that all the responsible adults in their lives were gone, Bonnie was really going to have to make a decision. She would either need to compel a permanent babysitter, or she and Damon were going to have to take a few steps back from the drama to properly raise Mina.

She really didn't want her around Elena, for obvious reasons (Daddy's ex-girlfriend) and Caroline… well, a year wasn't really all that long. She would have to think about Stefan, but Matt might be good, you know, after he got over his newly found hatred of all things supernatural.

Hmm, maybe Alaric. He and Jo were getting married and having a baby soon, maybe they'd like to get in some practice, she really hadn't _seen_ Damon in a _loooonngggg_ time.

**A/N:**

**So, it's been a while, lol. I really want to take my time with the rave scene, and incorporating Mina into their lives, I literally loved the second half of this episode and I really want to see all the characters in this world.**

**Any suggestions?**

**Put it in DAH COMMENTS!**

**4GMK**


End file.
